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Bergen County, N.J., Man Sentenced To Five Years In Prison For Downloading Images And Videos Of Child Sexual Abuse

NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County, N.J., man was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for knowingly receiving over the Internet images and videos of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Joseph Anthony Amari, 81, of Fair Lawn, N.J., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to one count of an indictment charging him with receipt of child pornography. Judge Hayden imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

Amari, who was initially federally charged by complaint in 2009, is currently serving a sentence in state prison following a separate state conviction for endangering the welfare of two minors. His federal sentence will run concurrently with his state sentence. The state also required Amari to register as a sex offender. The court had stayed the federal prosecution pending the resolution of the state charges.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Amari admitted during his guilty plea that he used peer-to-peer file-sharing software to download images and videos in February 2007 of children being sexually abused.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hayden sentenced Amari to five years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force in New Jersey, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentence. He also thanked the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor John L. Molinelli, and the Fair Lawn Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Erik Rose.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jane H. Yoon and Shirley U. Emehelu of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.